442 Address of the General Secretaries 



seat of learning, we hope to double the numbers of our 

 northern auxiliaries. 



Supported by a fresh accession of the property and intelli- 

 gence of this land, we are now led on by a noble Marquis, 

 who, disdaining not the fields we try to win, may be cited as 

 the first Highland chieftain who, proclaiming that knowledge 

 is power, is proud to place himself at the head of the clans of 

 science. 



If such be our chief, what is our chosen ground? — raised 

 through the industry and genius of her sons, to a pinnacle of 

 commercial grandeur, well can this city estimate her obliga- 

 tions to science ! Happily as she is placed, and surrounded 

 as she is by earth's fairest gifts, she feels how much her pro- 

 gress depends upon an acquaintance with the true structure 

 of the rich deposits which form her subsoil ; and great as 

 they are, she clearly sees that her manufactures may at a mo- 

 ment take a new flight by new mechanical discoveries. For 

 she it is, you all know, who nurtured the man whose genius 

 has changed the tide of human interests, by calling into active 

 energy a power which (as wielded by him), in abridging time 

 and space, has doubled the value of human life, and has esta- 

 blished for his memory a lasting claim on the gratitude of the 

 civilized world. The names of Watt and Glasgow are united 

 in imperishable records ! 



In such a city, then, surrounded by such recollections, en- 

 couraged by an illustrious and time-honoured university, and 

 fostered by the ancient leaders of the people, may we not 

 augur that this Meeting of the British Association shall rival 

 the most useful of our previous assemblies, and exhibit un- 

 doubted proofs of the increasing prosperity of the British 

 Association ? 



Not attempting an analysis of the general advance of sci- 

 ence in the year that has passed since our meeting at Birming- 

 ham, we shall restrict ourselves, on the present occasion, to 

 a brief review of what the British Association has directly ef- 

 fected in that interval of time, as recorded in the last published 

 volume of our Transactions. From this straight path of our 

 duty we shall only deviate in offering a few general remarks 

 on subjects intimately connected with the well-being and dig- 

 nity of our institution. 



One of the most important — perhaps the most important 

 service to science — which it is the peculiar duty of the Asso- 

 ciation to confer, is that which arises from its relation to the 

 Government, —the right which it claims to make known the 

 wants of science, and to demand for them that aid which it is 

 beyond the power of any scientific body to bestow. In the 



